Ben Carson, who became a conservative political star in the US after a career as a neurosurgeon that included directing the first surgery to separate twins connected at the back of the head, said he plans to formally announce his candidacy today for the Republican presidential nomination in next year’s election.
Carson, who has never run for public office and would be a long-shot candidate, is expected to be the only high-profile African-American to enter the Republican presidential primary as he tries to translate his success as an author and speaker into a competitive campaign against established politicians.
“I’m willing to be part of the equation and therefore, I’m announcing my candidacy for president of the United States of America,” he said in an interview shown on Sunday night by Ohio’s WKRC television station.
He is set to make a more formal announcement during a speech from his native Detroit today.
Carson joins a crowded Republican primary field that could feature as many as two dozen candidates.
Three other Republican senators have already entered the race: Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky.
Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush is also considered a leading candidate although he has not formally announced a bid. Former US secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton appears unlikely to face a formidable Democratic opponent in that party’s primary campaign.
Carson earned national acclaim during 29 years leading the pediatric neurosurgery unit of the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center in Baltimore, where he still lives. He directed the first surgery to separate twins connected at the back of the head. His career was notable enough to inspire the 2009 movie, Gifted Hands, with actor Cuba Gooding Jr depicting Carson.
He told reporters in an interview earlier this year that his lack of political experience is an asset.
“I see myself as a logical American who has common sense,” he continued, “and I think that’s going to resonate with a lot of Americans, regardless of their political party.”
The 63-year-old Detroit native remains largely unknown outside of conservative activists who have embraced him since his address at the 2013 National Prayer Breakfast, where he offered a withering critique of the modern welfare state and the nation’s overall direction.
The speech restated themes from Carson’s 2012 book America the Beautiful, but he excited conservatives by doing so with US President Barack Obama sitting just meters away.
Carson has since become a forceful critic of the nation’s first black president on everything from healthcare to foreign policy. Carson also offers himself as a counter to other notable African-American commentators with more liberal views.
Most recently, Carson has spoken out on the unrest in his hometown, where residents have protested and rioted in the wake of Freddie Gray dying while in the custody of the Baltimore Police Department. In a Time magazine opinion piece, Carson decried the protests and related vandalism as “gross misconduct.”
Carson moved to Palm Beach, Florida, after his retirement from Johns Hopkins, but he is announcing his campaign in his hometown of Detroit, where his mother raised him and his brother in poverty.
He attributes his politics to his upbringing, often describing his neighborhood culture as one where residents celebrated any new announcement of government support. Still, he acknowledges that his mother received welfare aid, and he insists that he supports “a safety net for the people who need a safety net.”
Carson is a staunch social conservative, opposing abortion rights and same-sex marriage, views he attributes to his faith as a practicing Christian.
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